Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Questions For The Competition is a weekly column that addresses our issues with the brackets of other bracketology "experts." Today's questions are reserved for ESPN's Joe Lunardi and SI.com's Andy Glockner. Keep in mind that these questions are about each expert's most recent brackets, which were released before Monday's games.

Joe Lunardi (ESPN) - Feb. 7 BracketMissouri State would get an at-large if the season ended today? With two bad losses and one Top 50 win? How?

Who has Purdue beaten to deserve a 3 seed? They have a better resume than Syracuse?

Isn't Arizona a little high as a 5? Isn't Marquette a little high as an 8?

Andy Glockner (Sports Illustrated) - Feb. 7 BracketWe know the Big XII bubble is complicated, but how in the world did you put Colorado in this week? Is it their one win (one!) in their last six games? How are they in over Kansas State, whose RPI is 56 points better?

The Colonial would really get three bids if the season ended today? Old Dominion is not only in, but they deserve a 10 seed? George Mason deserves a 9?

How is Butler, at 7-5 in conference, still one of your First Four Out?

12 comments:

Joe Lunardi's bracket is always good for a laugh. I'm insulted that he gets paid to write among the worst brackets in the business--there are at least a few better brackets posted in the comments each week than he makes.

Dayton has beaten George Mason, Old Dominion, New Mexico, and is 5-4 against the top 100. Yet their name is nowhere in sight. Those stats look better than a lot of teams that you have in. Explain that?

Dayton is 5-4 in the Atlantic 10 and buried in a 5th place tie with a few schools that are nowhere near bubble consideration. Dayton isn't going to get any love on brackets unless bracketologists feel the Atlantic 10 (err, 14) is worthy of 5 bids, since all four of the teams above them (Xavier, Duquesne, Temple, and Richmond) are more worthy of bids because of either in-conference or OOC work.

Alternatively, if Dayton can reach the top 4 in its conference it might be deemed worthy, but it's got a 2 game deficit below Temple and Richmond (tied for third place) to make up to reach that point, though wins @ Rhode Island and at home with Temple, Xavier, and Duquesne would allow it to get the wins it needs to do so, if it can.

Palm has the same thing with Purdue as a 3 seed. It doesn't make sense to me. Syracuse has much better wins (ND and @UConn) than anything Purdue has done. Additionally, I'm not sure how Purdue is a 3 seed over Wisconsin. If you're projecting as of right now, Wisconsin has much better wins (Illinois, Purdue, BC, Marquette) and won head to head. There's no logical reason for Purdue to be ahead of Wisconsin or Syracuse.

EIC is spot on about Dayton's current situation. The Flyers have the fifth best resume right now in a league that's getting a max of four bids, and they trail Duquesne (the team just ahead of them in the the A-10 pecking order) by three games in conference. The good news for Dayton is that they have plenty of chances down the stretch to play their way in. They still have home games against Tempe, Xavier, and Duquesnse left, and their remaining road schedule isn't that tough. Their OOC wins over Mason and New Mexico are looking better every week as well.

There's no way Alabama can be an 11 seed.

There's also no way Purdue should be a 3 seed. (We didn't even want to keep them on the 4 line this week, but there weren't any better candidates to replace them.) The Boilermakers are one more Michigan State loss away from having one Top 50 win on their resume - and that win was at home. Their nice RPI (11) and second place position in the Big Ten are masking a resume that doesn't have a whole lot of sizzle to it.

Alabama has an unmistakably better resume than cleveland state. Cleveland state has lost its only two games vs real competition by double digits and has no wins over tournament teams. Alabama at least has two.

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